Returning to Faith

Sascha Bramwell spoke today in sacrament meeting. There was a point in her life when she had low-self-esteem and was comparing herself to her husband's success in career and life. Then, this scripture came into her mind: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways...For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) Words to live by. She found strength and personal revelation in scripture.

Returning to Faith

“Hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes.”⁹

Archbishop Périer responded: “God guides you, dear Mother; you are not so much in the dark as you think. The path to be followed may not always be clear at once. Pray for light; do not decide too quickly, listen to what others have to say, consider their reasons. You will always find something to help you. … Guided by faith, by prayer, and by reason with a right intention, you have enough.”⁵

Some other wisdom from scripture reading this week:

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
“Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).

President Hinckley:
Little flaws are magnified into great torrents of faultfinding...It is the cycle which is repeated again and again in thousands of cases. It is tragic, and, as I have said, it is in most cases the bitter fruit of anger.
I plead with you to control your tempers, to put a smile upon your faces, which will erase anger; speak out with words of love and peace, appreciation, and respect. If you will do this, your lives will be without regret. Your marriages andfamily relationships will be preserved. You will be much happier. You will do greater good. You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful.
(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/slow-to-anger?lang=eng)

Because a wrench slips and we bruise our hand is no reason for throwing the wrench halfway across a wheat field. Having a flat tire on a busy downtown street will not be remedied by a tirade of words.

Anger against things is bad enough, but when it is directed against people and it flares up with white-hot fury and caustic words, we have the makings of tragedy!

Even in our families, situations may arise that could cause irritations. It is then that parents must be calm and exemplary. The man with an uncontrolled temper is like an undisciplined child—he expresses his emotions explosively or by sulking, and disregards the feelings of those about him. In the home, anger should be controlled and love should abound. When, in his most impressionable years, a child experiences ugly situations that result from uncontrolled tempers, when he hears unkind words exchanged between his father and mother, and when he sees contention crowd out an atmosphere of kindness and mutual respect—when these conditions make a child’s environment, what chance has he to become refined and noble? The minds of children are like the sensitive plates of a photographer; they record every incident, good and bad. Our children may forget what is said, but they never forget that which they are made to feel.

“Parents may tell

But never teach

Unless they practice

What they preach.”

Frustrations often offer us the means of progression, for by overcoming them harmoniously, we grow and become more Christlike.

(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1971/04/be-slow-to-anger?lang=eng)